Fictional Reality: The Start of Forever
by House Sparrow
Summary: Piper is an ordinary American, nothing exceptional about her except her passion for fiction and her academic prowess. Or so everyone thought. Coming of age seems to have greater implications for this geek than for any human. (First of the series.)
1. Chapter 1

I slowly became aware of a terrible, numbing cold. I opened my eyes, then quickly closed them against the bright glare. I tried again, slower this time, squinting. I was in a barren tundra, surrounded by blindingly white ice. I attempted to sit up, but my bare hands and feet were frozen. I couldn't even feel my legs, but my arms burned with the development of frostbite. I wasn't dressed for such weather; I was dressed in pajama shorts and a light t-shirt, what I had gone to bed in back home, where the summer warmth had pervaded my room and made any other clothes unbearable.

Finally making it into a sitting position, I debated whether this was a dream. _I'm still wearing my pajamas, but I hurt too much._ I tried working some feeling into my legs, wondering how I was going to survive. I was shivering, trying to keep my core temperature from dropping too low, when I heard crunching behind me. I turned to find a figure running toward me, nothing but a silhouette against the glare reflecting from the snow.

"Are you okay?" asked the figure. As they approached, it turned out to be an elderly woman dressed in pale purple fur. She knelt next to me, helping me into her boots and coat.

"Thank you," I said. It came out as a croak.

She helped me up and carefully led me over a rise and to a small village, her walking barefoot and in a thin shirt in my stead. The village consisted of a large igloo and several leather tents, all surrounded by an ice wall. She ushered me past staring children and into one of the tents, where she helped me lay down next to a fire. She immediately set forth rubbing a salve into my hands and feet.

"Where am I?" I asked, pulling a fur blanket around myself.

"This is the Southern Water Tribe." _WHAT? I _must _be dreaming. This place only exists in a cartoon. And a movie. I didn't like the movie._

A small girl, no older than nine, poked her head into the tent. "Get Katara," the woman commanded. The child nodded and hurried away. _Oh my goodness,_ I thought. _I'm in a cartoon._

_・ ・ ・_

I clenched my jaw as a burning sensation grew in my feet and legs. The woman saw my pain. I tried to smile. "Your salve works wonders. Feeling has already returned to my legs and feet."

She gave me a strange look. "That's great. Color has already returned as well." I looked down at my feet. _Wow. Is that even possible?_ My toes were black before; I was fearing amputation. But now, now they were rosy and healthy-looking. Suddenly, a girl my age burst into the tent. She was darker skinned, and her braids cascaded across her face. She even wore the same choker as Katara. _But isn't Katara supposed to be, like, a preteen?_

"Gran Gran, what do you need me to do?" she asked the older woman.

Gran Gran Kanna stared at my feet in awe. "I was going to ask you to use your healing abilities to fight this girl's frostbite, but it seems that won't be necessary."

"Yes, thank you for your help. My toes probably would have fallen off."

Kanna looked me in the eye, scrutinizing. "I doubt that." _Okay . . . ._

This was getting really weird, so I decided to just come out with it. "I really appreciate how you're staying in character, and I didn't mean to interrupt your LARPing, but can you tell me where I _really_ am?"

Katara stared at me like the frostbite had gotten to my brain somehow. "You're in the Southern Water Tribe."

"That's fictitious, and we all know it," I said. "Please, I don't know how I got here, and if I don't get home soon, everyone will worry. It's my birthday; a bunch of people are expecting to see me soon."

"How old are you?" Kanna asked slowly.

"I turn eighteen today," I replied carefully, wary of the strange question. _Well, I suppose I was the one to bring it up._

"Katara, go see if you have any clothes for our honored guest."

"Yes, Gran Gran."

"Honored guest?" I asked confusedly as Katara left.

"Yes, you are the Guardian of the Universal Balance. I have been hoping you would arrive soon."


	2. Chapter 2

Kanna began her explanation upon her granddaughter's return. "Sit down, Katara. You are going to need to know this as much as our guest is."

"My name is Piper."

She pointed to Katara. "As you can guess, this is Katara. I am Kanna, but you may call me Gran Gran." I nodded. "May I explain now?"

"Yes, sorry."

"There is a legend, a legend about the true nature of the Universe. It is an ancient legend, a story from before time, that has been passed down through the generations by the elders of the tribes." _She really knows how to start a story. _"It says that there are more worlds than our own, and that they are all connected. Katara, you know that the Avatar is charged with the balance of the world." Katara nodded, as did I. "There is another being, charged with the balance of all the worlds, of the Universe." _What's she getting at? This isn't exactly canon. These LARPers are crazy._

Gran Gran turned to myself. "You are that being."

"Pardon?"

"You are the Guardian of the Universal Balance, the one who saves worlds when they cannot save themselves."

I shook my head. "You're crazy. Just tell me how to get home."

"It is true!" she exclaimed. "The Avatar has failed, and now saving the balance of our world is up to you!"

I face-palmed. _What have I gotten myself into?_

"You are just as the legend describes! You just turned eighteen, the age of your awakening. You don't know it yet, but you have great powers. How do you think you got here? You obviously don't belong here; you aren't even dressed for the weather. You healed miraculously, one of your foretold abilities. You are even wearing the legendary crystal!"

"What?" She pointed to my collar. I looked down to find a small, spherical pendant on a delicate silver chain. "Where'd that come from?"

"The crystal is a physical manifestation of your power. It is your identity, proof that you are more than human."

"I'm human."

She shook her head. "Concentrate. Close your eyes and picture your heart."

"You're scaring me."

"Me too, Gran Gran. You only ever spoke of the Avatar. Only the Avatar can hold such power."

"Shush, child," she told Katara. Then turning back to me, she whispered, "Just try."

I did as she said, and heard a gasp. "What?" I demanded, opening my eyes. I found that the crystal had begun to glow. I held it in my fingers, and in it I beheld myself, but more powerful somehow. I looked more dignified, with more authority. I looked back up at Gran Gran, unsure of how to react. She was surrounded by a swirling cloud of color; it was both transparent and as real as her clothes. It was like a light show of sorts, but it didn't illuminate anything. I shook my head.

"What do you see?"

"Colorful light around you."

"Around Katara, too?"

I turned to look at the girl. She had the cloud, too, but the colors and patterns were different. "Yes," I replied hesitantly.

"That is our auras. You are looking at projections of our souls. You are awakening." I wanted to think her crazy, to run out of the there and not look back, but something in me whispered that she was telling the truth. I looked back down at the crystal sphere, and an old feeling of mine that I had repressed returned. I felt that I was destined for something greater, something more than I could imagine.


End file.
